V.League: The Darkness Behind the National Team's Glory

I have followed Southeast Asian football for more than two decades, and one image has always haunted me: the national team draws tens of thousands of fans to My Dinh Stadium, yet only weeks later, V.League rounds take place in sparse stands across many stadiums. Same players, same footballing nation, but two atmospheres that could not be more different. After the 2026 AFF Suzuki Cup title, the 2026 ASEAN Championship and Vietnam's progress in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, many believe the footballing nation is on the right track. I witnessed a similar fever in South Korea after the 2026 World Cup, so I know: a fever born from one generation will not last if the system behind it is not solid. This article is about what no one wants to look at directly: the gap between the national team's glory and the reality of the V.League. The V.League is operating on an unstable model. Only a small group of clubs – Hanoi FC, Viettel, Cong An Hanoi – supplies most players to the national team, from U17 level upward. Youth academies like HAGL, PVF, Viettel and Hanoi FC are considered bright spots, but they cannot be replicated. HAGL produced one golden generation and then stopped. PVF has a good model but small scale. The remaining provincial clubs hardly have proper academies. The consequence is that the value of domestic players has been pushed artificially high. I spend more nights studying player payrolls than watching beautiful goals. Data from multiple sources shows that the wages of starting players at top V.League clubs have risen very fast over the past decade, while club revenue has barely moved. That is a recipe for a bubble, and when the bubble bursts, private clubs will pay the price. Within this picture, state-funded club models like Cong An Hanoi and Viettel further distort the market. They do not depend on revenue, do not have to publish profits, and can pay salaries that private clubs cannot match. This drains private clubs of manpower, discourages long-term investment, and the vicious cycle repeats. If a transfer goes too smoothly, I start checking the agent's briefcase. But in the V.League, the problem is not big transfers; it is that clubs refuse to develop young players. They buy ready-made players from elsewhere. That is a short-term choice. That very operating model has left the national team without a proper succession line. I once accused someone out of emotion. Now I need evidence, or I stay silent. The clearest evidence is the Vietnam U23 squad list year after year: most names still come from PVF, Viettel and Hanoi FC. Players from local clubs are extremely rare, because they rarely start in the V.League – where clubs chase results, so they prefer foreign players and veterans. That is why the gap between the national team and the V.League keeps widening. I watch many Kim Sang-sik matches: the Vietnam national team is organized, disciplined and tactically clear. But V.League games usually depend on moments from foreign players. The national coach has to work with players used to a physical, direct style. Those players return to their clubs and are pulled back into old habits. The national team's tactical ability is not nurtured by its own league. Look at South Korea. The K.League also suffered from a post-2026 fever without a functioning training system. To fix that, they strictly enforced AFC club licensing: any club wanting to join the league must have a youth academy, a B-team and a scouting system. Today, every K.League club has U18 and U15 teams. Young players step up to the first team through a process, and when they are good enough, they move to Europe. That is a system, not luck. Vietnam has not done that. AFC club licensing rules exist on paper, but enforcement remains weak. Many clubs build academies just to comply with documents. If the rules were tightened, clubs would have to develop young players to survive. But enforcement pressure is not strong enough. Vietnam also has almost no player export market. Compared to Thailand with Chanathip moving to the J.League, or dozens of South Koreans playing in Europe, Vietnamese players are rarely sold abroad. Quang Hai, Cong Phuong and Tuan Anh all went overseas as free agents, trials or loans. No foreign club has paid a significant transfer fee for a Vietnamese player in years. The reason is simple: market value is created by the league a player appears in every week, and the V.League has not created that value for anyone. This story must be placed beside a bigger question: after the golden generation of 2026-2026, who will replace them? They are 27-30, at their peak, with only three or four years left. If the V.League does not build a successor layer, the national team will decline. Fans will stop filling the stadium, sponsors will leave, and clubs will suffer even more. A downward spiral. Of course, I do not deny the positives. Young audiences are returning in Nam Dinh and Thanh Hoa. The number of foreign experts in fitness, nutrition and scouting is increasing. Vietnam is not starting from zero: the U20 and U23 groups still have promising figures, though not uniformly. The youth teams still compete well in regional tournaments. But inspiration alone from a golden generation is not enough for children to start playing football. Inspiration must be matched by a receiving system: academies, properly trained coaches, pitches, organized youth tournaments. The V.League clubs themselves must build that system, not merely a few special centers. Every federation apology ends with one word: will. We will tighten licensing, we will invest in youth training, we will reform the rules. But will has no deadline and no sanction. It is only a promise. Clubs collapse from bad luck – I have read luck's signature. In many places, I see clubs collapse not because they were unlucky, but because they had no system to support them. If reform does not begin today, when the golden generation retires we will read luck's signature again, at a much higher price. I write to give back fairness to fans who are used to being deceived. They deserve to watch a genuinely developing V.League, not merely to count each national team victory. The national team cannot keep winning if its own league stays still while darkness spreads. What needs to be done is not out of reach: enforce licensing rules, make club finances transparent, build a scouting pipeline from schools, and accept that sustainable growth is always slower than buying instant success. Vietnamese football does not lack talent. What is missing is the will to build foundations for decades ahead, instead of basking in today's glory. And the final question remains open: when will it be late enough for us to start?